‘Penny-Rose!’ She looked up to find her boss waving to her from the other end of the wall.

Was he reminding her of lunch? That was strange. Bert didn’t usually remind his workers it was time to knock off, but she rose gratefully to her feet.

But he wasn’t reminding her of lunch.

‘You’re wanted,’ he told her, thumbing toward the castle. ‘By them indoors.’

‘What?’

‘You heard what I said.’ Bert’s weather-worn face creased even further with a puzzlement that matched hers. ‘Someone came out just now and said could we send you inside. Pronto. There’s no mistake.’

‘They want me to go inside?’ Penny-Rose stared at her boss in disbelief, and then stared down at herself. She was wearing begrimed overalls, her shoulder-length chestnut curls were twisted into a knot under her filthy cap and every inch of her was covered with dust. She grimaced. ‘Why?’

‘They sent a message saying they want to see you, and that’s all I know,’ her boss said patiently.

‘You’re kidding.’ She glanced up at the forbidding ancestral home, where those who’d issued the summons were hidden.

‘They can see me by looking out their windows,’ she told her boss, and she grinned. ‘That way I won’t besmirch their ancestral floors.’

‘Don’t be clever, lass.’ Bert, normally the kindest of bosses, was perturbed and it showed. ‘I don’t know what they want, and I can’t say I like it. Do you want me to come in with you?’

‘Yeah, take him with you, Penny-Rose,’ one of the lads called. The whole stone-walling team was fascinated at this unexpected twist of events, and the cheekiest of the men came to his own conclusion. ‘Maybe the new prince has decided to increase his harem.’